Scalise calls on Secret Service director to step down after Trump shooting
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) is calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to step down after Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Trump at his rally.
“I think she should,” Scalise said at a CNN-Politico event at the RNC in Milwaukee, when asked if Cheatle should step down. “I’ve been very disappointed in her lack of candor.”
“You got to take the tough questions,” he added.
The Secret Service has come under intense scrutiny from lawmakers following Saturday’s shooting, with members of Congress questioning how the would-be assassin was able to get within shooting distance of Trump during his rally.
The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was perched on the roof of a building when he opened fire at the rally, piercing Trump’s ear — which left him bloodied — killing a rally goer and injuring two others. Authorities fatally shot Crooks after he fired his weapon.
Lawmakers have raised concerns about the security measures in place to protect Trump, a former president and his party’s presumptive 2024 nominee. Much of those frustrations have been aimed at the Secret Service.
“I’ve been very frustrated with the lack of information, I think the Secret Service head should’ve been out publicly right away,” Scalise said Tuesday.
Cheatle, for her part, called the rally shooting “unacceptable” during an interview with ABC News, adding “it’s something that shouldn’t happen again.”
“The buck stops with me,” she added. “I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.”
The director, however, said she does not plan to step down.
“I do plan to stay on,” she told ABC News.
Congress, meanwhile, is already springing into action with plans to probe the deadly rally shooting. On Monday, Cheatle will appear before the House Oversight Committee for a hearing on the shooting.
“The assassination attempt of President Trump yesterday was a horrific act of political violence. The American people need answers and the House is committed to ensuring a thorough investigation is conducted,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote on X.
Scalise on Tuesday spoke about the rally shooting in comparison to the shooting at a practice session for the Congressional baseball game in 2017, which left him wounded. Scalise said the “pop, pop, pop” sound of the gunshots and authorities yelling “shooter down” on Saturday were “eerily similar” to the 2017 incident.
“A lot of those emotions came back,” he added.